Indonesian palm oil industry would support land swaps to protect forest, while expanding production via @mongabay

New oil palm plantation on peatlands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo in March 2013. The palm oil paradox Palm oil is widely acknowledged as one of the most important drivers of deforestation and forest diminishment in Southeast Asia. Conversion of forests and peatlands for oil palm plantations is both a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions and a major threat to biodiversity — one study called palm oil the "single most immediate threat to the greatest number of species". Yet palm palm production generates tens of billions of dollars per year for the economies of Indonesia and Malaysia and is the most profitable form of land use across large swathes of Borneo, Sumatra, and New Guinea. Oil palm plantations also yield more edible oil than any other major crop, providing a cheap source of cooking oil for the poor.